"Charles L. Grant - Gallery Of Horror" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grant Charles L)

So why read about them?

Because this book you can put down, walk away from, close with a slam in
the sure knowledge that all of the horrid things happening to the people
in these pages can't happen to you. What's on these pages doesn't
exist.

I still think they're fun to flirt with, however, to give in to now and
again, and if they hit closer to home than they would have when we were
kids, well, that's the nightmare risk, isn't it? That's where the fun
comes in.

And to be sure that these writers haven't wasted their time, they ask
only one thing of you (aside from a shadowy room and a cold wind and a
pane that rattles unnervingly in the sash): just as watching a film with
two dozen graphic and full-color murders tends to numb the mind and
produces little more than yawns, reading twenty or more stories at a
clip is dulling, and ultimately disappointing. It doesn't make any
difference to the authors gathered here how fast the traffic is going
out on your street; all they ask is for a fair chance to do to you what
you want them to-horrify, terrify, or just give you a dose of squirming
anxiety.

These stories are variously graphic, quiet, oriented toward the
supernatural, aimed at the psychological; some are bludgeons and some
are razors; some will ask you for more work than others, and some will
do their work more than once-like the shock of a virulent poison
entering your system . . . and the aftertaste that lingers.

All, however, are in the business of recording nightmares.

And sooner or later you just might hit one of yours.

Of course, as long as the lights work, and as long as you don't really
not for a minute believe in any of this stuff, it won't matter to you at
all. That childhood Monster has gotten hold of you and transformed you,
and you can handle most anything these days, especially stories that do
nothing more than nibble a little at your imagination, tug a little at
the shadows you were sure were banished when the sun came up.

Sure you can.

Sleep well.

CHARLES L. GRANT Newton, New Jersey

Something Nasty

Adults seem to find wondrous delight in tormenting the young to
experiences before they "grew up," or it may be something else,